FanDuel Daily Fantasy Baseball Helper: Tuesday 8/15/23

For a 13-game main slate, we're surprisingly short on high-end pitching options, and just two arms crack $10,000 tonight. Coors Field leads the way for our stacks again, but some elite offenses elsewhere are in fantastic spots, too.

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Let's check out the top options on today's main slate.

Pitching Breakdown

Despite a tougher matchup versus the Toronto Blue Jays, Zack Wheeler ($10,800) is the first guy we should look to at pitcher -- and that's pretty much by default on a slate where just two pitchers have a strikeout rate above 25%.

But that isn't a knock against Wheeler, who's enjoying a fine campaign. While his ERA is nearly a full run higher than last season, he's still rocking a strong 3.44 SIERA, 27.2% strikeout rate, and 4.4% walk rate. He's allowing more fly balls this year but is still incredibly difficult to hit dingers off of, as he's above the 80th percentile in both xERA and barrel rate.

Wheeler also matches up well against a predominantly right-handed Toronto lineup. In same-sided matchups, the righty is sporting an elite 33.1% strikeout rate compared to just 21.9% versus lefties.

Throw in a workload that often cracks 100 pitches, and it's easy to roster Wheeler as a building block on Tuesday night.

If I'm not opting for Wheeler, my first inclination is to roll the dice with Nick Pivetta ($8,500), who leads the slate with a 29.6% strikeout rate.

After excelling in a bulk reliever role, the Boston Red Sox have used Pivetta as a traditional starter in two of his last three appearances, and he netted 10 and 8 strikeouts in those starts while logging 104 and 90 pitches. That should give us confidence in his upside. Plus, it wasn't all that long ago that he recorded 13 punchouts as a reliever against the Oakland Athletics for a season-high 63 FanDuel points.

At this point, Pivetta's red flags are well-documented. He issues too many free passes (9.4% walk rate) and allowed too many home runs (1.57 per nine innings). But these problems will be far less of a concern against the Washington Nationals.

That's because when facing right-handers, the Nats' active roster ranks last in ISO (.131) and second-to-last in walk rate (6.6%). Washington also has an annoying 19.6% strikeout rate in the split, but that's easier to overlook given that Pivetta's strikeout ability is much higher than tonight's alternatives.

Perhaps the biggest potential problem will be the weather in Washington, as rain is expected this afternoon. However, there's a good chance it will taper off at or near first pitch, so keep tabs on the forecast later in the day.

Moving back up the salary ladder, Bailey Ober ($10,300) has some appeal against the Detroit Tigers. The Tigers' active roster has a 93 wRC+ and 24.3% strikeout rate versus righties, and their 3.66 implied team total is the slate's worst mark.

Ober has solid overall numbers, but similar to Wheeler, his upside is much greater when he faces right-handed batters because his strikeout rate jumps to 28.0% in those matchups. Although Detroit tends to start its fair share of lefties, check back before lock to see if that's the case tonight.

This is a repeat matchup for Ober, which isn't ideal, but he did rack up nine Ks against these Tigers last week, and he also churned out eight punchouts in their first meeting in June.

Yusei Kikuchi ($9,900) is also worth a look. Kikuchi's posted a very respectable 3.99 SIERA, 24.6% strikeout rate, and 6.9% walk rate this year, and he's allowed just four earned runs combined across his last five starts.

Home runs tend to be his biggest worry, and that could get him in trouble against a potent Philadelphia Phillies offense -- but this isn't a bad spot for punchouts, too. Against left-handers, Philadelphia's active roster pairs a scary .203 ISO with a 23.4% strikeout rate.

Hitting Breakdown

For stacks, we have to start with Coors Field again tonight, particularly with temperatures potentially nearing 90 degrees in Denver. This game has a massive 12.5 over/under, which is unsurprisingly leaps and bounds above every other matchup.

While both sides are clearly in play, it's the Arizona Diamondbacks side that should be the priority again. Arizona is facing left-hander Ty Blach, who comes in carrying a 5.24 SIERA and a shockingly-low 9.4% strikeout rate. Seeing as his career punchout rate sits at just 12.7%, there's little reason to think those Ks will spike anytime soon.

Christian Walker ($4,000) is an obvious starting point whenever possible, and then Ketel Marte ($4,000), Tommy Pham ($3,300), Lourdes Gurriel ($3,500), and Kyle Lewis ($2,500) are other notable names who will have the platoon advantage. Lewis hasn't done much in his brief big league stints this season, but he's crushed it in Triple-A with a .289 ISO, and this is the perfect matchup for him to make the most of that power.

The Atlanta Braves are frequent visitors to these parts, and they're easy to like versus Luis Severino. Frankly, it's a bit shocking to see Severino, a former Cy Young contender, with an 8.06 ERA, but it's hard to find many, if any, positives in his underlying metrics.

While his 5.01 SIERA and 6.75 xERA are technically "better," those are numbers we'll happily attack on any slate, and his 18.0% strikeout rate and 9.0% walk rate are nothing to write home about, either. Severino's also been wrecked by the long ball, giving up 2.54 per nine innings.

Hitter-friendly temperatures and winds in Atlanta only further enhance this spot.

Any way you slice it, this is a delectable matchup for the Braves, and the lefties get a particularly nice bump when we see that Severino has an ugly 5.82 xFIP in the split.

Prioritize Matt Olson ($4,500) if you can make room for that hefty salary, and fellow lefties Michael Harris II ($3,200) and Eddie Rosario ($2,800) are easy fits at their respective cap hits. Another lefty, Nicky Lopez ($2,100), has practically zero power, but he'll steal the occasional base and can help us get to Olson or the stud right-handed bats.

The Los Angeles Dodgers are another formidable offense in a plus matchup. Adrian Houser is having a far better campaign than Severino -- not that it's saying much -- but he's a low-strikeout pitcher who struggles against lefty sticks. In that split, Houser has a 5.45 xFIP, 19.9% strikeout rate, and 12.8% walk rate while coughing up 1.54 home runs per nine innings off a 44.2% fly-ball rate.

This sets the stage for Freddie Freeman ($4,400) and Max Muncy ($3,600) to do some damage, and then it's all value between James Outman ($2,900), David Peralta ($2,600), and Jason Heyward ($2,500).

While Houser has a 54.1% ground-ball rate in same-sided matchups, he gets even fewer punchouts (16.7%), so there isn't any reason to shy away from someone like Mookie Betts ($4,400), as well.

The St. Louis Cardinals, Seattle Mariners, Boston Red Sox, and Texas Rangers are other strong choices on a deep night for offense.

Spenser Watkins will make his 2023 debut against the Cardinals and wasn't even reaching a 16% strikeout rate in Triple-A before getting claimed by the A's. The Mariners are facing Jordan Lyles; no further analysis is needed. Regression might be finally setting in for Josiah Gray (5.01 SIERA), and Boston's lefties are especially enticing. Likewise, we should like Texas' lefty bats against a homer-prone Lucas Giolito.

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The above author is a FanDuel employee and is not eligible to compete in public daily fantasy contests or place sports betting wagers on FanDuel. The advice provided by the author does not necessarily represent the views of FanDuel. Taking the author's advice will not guarantee a successful outcome. You should use your own judgment when participating in daily fantasy contests or placing sports wagers.